Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1887-01-25
SPIRIT OF JEFFERSON.
MISCELLANEOUS.
From the December Monthly
Auction Trade journal,
CHARLES BROADWAY ROUSS.

When you come to where the roac
divides he sure to avoid that ont
adown which genius has wasted kel
splendid energies, ambition has los
its giant force and integrity has beer
robbed of life long labors; where pa
tient toll fell exhausted from the bru
tai blows of the credit gauntlet
where hig gh and honored names were
blackened with shameless SANDER anC
suspicion; where magnificent enter:
prise was palsied and pulverized, anC
where millions at the grey dawn OF
morning stood waiting for day, anG
in the twilight lay praying for night
Id that hell where the hopeless mase:
no longer dread, but welcome deatE
at whose festive board appetite i:
st anger, and from whose restless
couch sleep has long been banished.
Siun with horror that left-hand road
along which this writer spent nine
precious years and over a quarter OF
a million in hard incesant toll. Take
the right hand, the short road; even
though it may at first seem the hard
way it is the net spot, five per cent,
money down. Straight asphaltum,
along which this leader and his gen.
erals have marched from the black
ruins of Oblivion to the impregnable
and unapproachahle bulwarks from
whose ramparts feats the excelsior
flag with its talismanic, imperishable
symbol /" The Almighty Dollar"
Underbuy and undersel
down-no memo.-no credit slips in
the money drawer-no slate, no book,
no Iedger-never borrow, nor en-
dorse, mark in plain figures your auc-
ton values-one price only and do
not deviate. Do things fair, square,
honest and never diverge. from the
true line of " Honor Bright
And when you find the old timers
combined to maintain unfair prices,
where one and all charge the same
iIliberal price and kept it up as though
it were matter of personal pride to
pile on the internal agony, then let
fly, in unanswerahle rapidity, your
close and deadly volcys of real values
and let the dead bury their dead
tile masses of bread winners are ever
-en4the side of--true reform and your
special leader always below the mar
ket will surely, steadily and speedily
lead you to the very top.
Never under any temptation i'm
peril your certain chances of suprem-
acy by varying from the uniform re-
tail percentage of 25-as the mari
ner' s needle always points to the north
star so will success crown the effort
of all who fight upon that in6exible
line-if you mean business, sell at so
if YOU can, and not 100 because it is
cheap enough at the price-at the bot
tom figure it is a splendid advertise
ment at the higher price it simply es-
capes notice. We once sent crude
countryman-a rough hut real dia-
mond-who had left the plow to try
dry goods at our solicitation, box
of wet handkerchiefs at five cents
He opened the case and nailed it up
again. writing us a crusty letter. that
he was in dry and not wet goods,
and that the Missouri people won't
buy damaged stuff, and besides there
was more hdkfs. than the whole State
would want in year. We telc-
graphed him, "Sell'm at six cents
rom-they'l advertise YOU" That
was the turning point in his history.
He sent to Apple Pie Ridge, near
Winchester, Va, for all his brothers,
open stores in seven Western cities,
sent one brother 10 this city who stood
for years at our receiving department
watching for wet goods from auction.
These brave boys starting with $500
are Robinson Brothers of Macon,
Iowa City, Mt. Pleasant, Ottumwa
with Headquarters at Minneapolis,
and rated hy the Commercial Agency
at one hundred thousand-
Yes, but these are rare exceptions
nonsense, our list of Generals
caught up from ohscurity, in many
cases without dollar, is one of the
brightest pages of our eventful his
tory. 1t is Cash and not Credit
fact not fiction-the right and not the
wrong way-pluck not luck.
Our prices are made up from pur-
chases at the factory standing idle for
want of money; from the mill whose
gates are shut down because the bank
account is overdrawn; from the i'm
porter who can neither rest nor sleep
until to-morrow's note is paid: from
the assignee who has no interest i'll
his victim and who cares less what the
goods bring; from the sheriff who
seized or stole the stock, the marsha
who smuggled them; from the auc'
tioneer and broker from thieves
and pirates who travel under the as,
sumed name of merchants; from mer
who could better rGsul rails than man
age the intricate mysteries of mer,
camille affairs; and from every quar-
ter where dollar would do double
duty, we have secured this stock anc
quoted these Incompatible prices.
In the autumn of life there is NJ
thought that so thoroughly over
wneIms mans finest feelings as tina
"what he might have done had hi
only known where to reach rock hot
tom-how he might have made for
tune in the savings he could hav'
gathered in buying at Headquarters
how he mi ght have been Million
aire instead of a big-hearted, bu
broken-hearted, poverty-stricker
pauper; and his time-ahi that pre-
cious time-gone by foreverl
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